Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #4

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Interesting. When asked in yesterday’s presser if LE knew where Brian was I recall the answer being no but when asked today they claim to know where he is now. Media was camped out at his house all day and night yesterday and only reported seeing his parents. I wonder if something has changed in terms of contact with his legal team since yesterday.
 
"He has rights" ..........I don't get where not talking should be a right when a persons life could be at risk (called immanent danger by OSHA and triggers special treatment)........explain please someone....benefits/ risk please of not saving the life possibly and he gets to hide????

He lawyered up. And like any lawyer, they tell you do not talk to the police. Most people don't know that. You don't talk to the police.
 
Hi all!
Joining the discussion as it has some very similar feelings to me when I experienced the murder of my friend Kenzie Lueck. I also live in SLC so I might be able to be of help if people have Utah specific questions. Just watched the body cam footage and it seems to add another interesting layer. I know she mentioned OCD and anxiety but those don’t generally always lead to mania so I think BL’s comments about her being manic was very much an exaggeration.
 
DNA or fingerprints at this point are pretty useless- they will be all over inside that van on every object. They lived in it.

Unless there was a bloody knife (sorry for being graphic) with his DNA... but he would be in jail if they found anything like that.

The only interesting DNA from that van will be if there are 2 female profiles or 2 male profiles.
I’m more concerned about photographing injuries on his body. If this went down like I think it did, she probably got him pretty good.
 
Hi @SuziQ. I am mostly in agreement with your line of thought that things don’t look good. However, we don’t know he stole her van. We don’t know that she didn’t decide to drop out of sight. We don’t know what we don’t know.
Let’s do a hypothetical. You decide to go on a camping trip with some new friends. You’re riding with them and don’t need your own car. You lend it to a friend. You go off without really telling anyone where you are going.
A few days later your friend gets stopped for a minor traffic violation. His name’s not on the registration. He doesn’t know how to get a hold of you. In the meantime your parents are trying to get a hold of you, too, with no luck.
Your car hasn’t been reported stolen. Should LE lock up your friend while they look for you?

At that time no he wouldn't be arrested. LE has their eye on a bigger case at the moment. But I bet auto theft will be stacked on to future charges. Along with theft of her possessions. I love it when a prosecutorS stacks charges.
 
I don’t think he didn’t want her arrested for HER sake, because look, she is missing and he doesn’t care. Why would he care about her having a record? He didn’t want her arrested and questioned because then she would feel safer to admit that he has been violent toward her and that she scratched him in self defense. Once she was out of his presence he couldn’t control her anymore and the truth would come out. Moo.
I believe he did not want her arrested because his "victim-ness" would be exposed as a fraud. The bearded cop seriously jumped the gun here. It was Gabby who was holding back info from them to protect BL and they never bothered to explore this.
 
Hi all!
Joining the discussion as it has some very similar feelings to me when I experienced the murder of my friend Kenzie Lueck. I also live in SLC so I might be able to be of help if people have Utah specific questions. Just watched the body cam footage and it seems to add another interesting layer. I know she mentioned OCD and anxiety but those don’t generally always lead to mania so I think BL’s comments about her being manic was very much an exaggeration.
Hey @yellowmoose long time no see.

This case reminds me a lot of Kenzie’s as well, and it’s the most similar I’ve followed since that happened.
 
There’s no way they have “nothing to go on.”

Both Gabby and Brian had phones, and those phone records will tell a story. It will give law enforcement areas of interest to search, and help them obtain surveillance video.

Purchase records, and forensics related to the van, will also help. This stuff takes time.

Agree. They have more. Like any investigation there is stuff they are not disclosing to the public so as to not jeopardize the investigation.
 
DV is not just physical. Red flags I noticed, based on the Power and Control Wheel developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, MN

Using coercion and threats
- threatening to leave (why, if they were both just going to take walks, as he claimed, did she have to force herself into the driver's side door and climb over him? he had locked her out; the implication that he was leaving was clear)
Using emotional abuse
- putting her down ("she's crazy")
- making her feel bad about herself (she blamed herself for being 'OCD'; he didn't think she could become an influencer)
- making her think she's crazy (If he said "she's crazy" so casually to the police, chances are he's said it directly to her before, too)
- making her feel guilty (her repeated "I'm sorry")
Using isolation
- controlling what she does... where she goes (he was the primary driver; he wanted to leave the public coffee shop, so they did; told her that she needed to take a walk to cool down)
Minimizing, denying, blaming
- making light of abuse (him joking with police about the whole situation)
- shifting responsibility for abusive behavior (he said he was grabbing her face because she was trying to get the keys - which are hers!)
- saying she caused it
Using male privilege
- acting like "master of the castle" (the fight was, according to him, because he kept tracking dirt into the van and moving her things around, which he just laughs off like she's being unreasonable to ask him to clean up after himself)
Yes, to everything listed here. Also, IMO and personal experience, abusers have the need to isolate you from all family and support networks, which is why IMO, I believe she lived with him and his family. Has anyone determined why she lived with his family?
 
After watching the body camera footage I have a somewhat different opinion than I did before I watched it.
There's not one bit of evidence that BL was abusive to Gabby. Not one bruise that any relative saw, no prior police records. BL had lots of time and chances to hit Gabby out of the public's view in that van when she was punching him, but he didn't.
This is what I think and I may be way off....
I think BL flew back to Fl. to get away from Gabby. I think emptying the storage unit was just an excuse. It doesn't make sense he'd fly back just for that. I think once he was there, his parents gave him their advice and suggested he called it quits with her. I think he flew back and told Gabby it was over. It's obvious that that poor girl was already depressed. Lots of change, she had quit her job, her relationship was on the rocks and now she'd have to find a place to live. Shattered dreams with a man she didn't even want to spend one night away from when the cops separated them.
I think they went on a hike and Gabby jumped. BL panicked because he thought LE would point the finger to him seeing as now he had a record of DV. So he fled to Fl. More circumstantial evidence pointing to him. His parents may have felt guilty, because they suggested he broke it off. They also thought he'd be a suspect, the fingers would point to him, so they lawyered up. The lawyer told them to keep quiet, so they are. I know it looks like they are cold and callas, and doing so builds even more circumstantial evidence as in a cover up, but they must know that.
I have a lot of respect for the way Moab PD handled this. AZ. is the same as my state. The one that has the scratches and marks is the victim, and the aggressor goes to jail. No exceptions. I wonder how Gabby's mental health would have been if she ended up in jail. I think they skirted the law, and the redacted audio when they were deciding what to do shows that.
All speculation on my part, I'm thinking out loud, and I may be wrong, but to me, it's the only thing that fits. I know many that are good at covering up and hiding their aggression, but I just don't see it with BL. Yeah, he called her crazy, but I don't think he meant she was really crazy. Many people use that phrase when in reality, they are exaggerating.

there is far more to abuse than obvious bruises, it can also be verbal or psychological etc. Gabbys behaviour looked a lot like that of someone who has been gaslit and be enough psychologically manipulated (mind games, withholding her keys, subtle put downs to destroy ones self confidence and calling her crazy).

Then there is DARVO - Deny and reverse victim/offender - he made himself the victim of her, yet it was Gabby who was distressed and who is now missing, not him.

Another tactic of an abuser is stonewalling which he has done by refusing to speak to police or Gabbys parents and refusing to tell where she is.

we’ve seen this way too many times, denial is not a river in Egypt.
 
Hey @yellowmoose long time no see.

This case reminds me a lot of Kenzie’s as well, and it’s the most similar I’ve followed since that happened.

@MassGuy I knew I remembered you! I have exactly the same feelings. I haven’t watched any missing persons cases really since Kenzie was found.
 
I just feel like having a presser like that will just show BL and his parents that they have NOTHING to go on and he will continue to be quiet. IMO
My heart is just breaking for her family knowing he knows where they can look for their daughter. This is just terrible for them and for GP!

I think it serves several purposes.
It can give the guilty a false sense of security, so they become cocky or loose lips. There can be more LE know but don’t share.
It keeps her face out there, and his. Someone who was travelling in the parks may only just be seeing their faces and it triggers a memory.
shows the guilty, this won’t just go away.
 
He lawyered up. And like any lawyer, they tell you do not talk to the police. Most people don't know that. You don't talk to the police.

When I was an undergrad I had a business law professor who told us once, "frankly, you haven't failed learning if you fail this course. You haven't failed learning if you fail out of this school! But you've failed learning if you talk to the police!" Totally true story LOL.
 
This story is so heartbreaking. I wish we could go back in time and someone would have told Gabby to just call her parents for help. They love her and would have been there for her. Her family would have helped her get home. They would have flown out and driven her van back if she was scared. I wish she knew this relationship wasn’t worth saving, that it was ok if her van living travel blog lifestyle wasn’t what she thought it would be, and that it wasn’t too late to just start over and try something else. I wish she had called her parents. I hope that she will be found, and will be able to call them so they can help her pick up the pieces.
 
Not able to bring him in for questioning??
OK...

He's just plead the 5th. Didn't see presser but they should charge him with theft, though that would not likely stick since Gabby is not available to refute any claim that the vehicle was not taken without her consent. They need something to hold him. Even if this does not stick it would force an appearance so they must have their reasons - they must be developing other evidence - toll booths, cameras, transponders, cell records, etc.
 
Agree with you. They both seem very young and naive - not that that’s necessarily a problem. Under normal circumstances you live your life, you find out about yourself and your partner, figure out it’s not going to work out (for now or forever), then break up and go your own merry way. Now that we’re here though, he doesn’t get to just walk away and go his own merry way.

There are so many factors that seem to contribute to this particular tragedy:

1. When you’ve hung all your beliefs about your abilities and worth onto the success of a major project you’ve invested heavily in, and at the same time allow the world to see it pretty much live, you add on an extra dimension of stress;

2. if the project requires a supportive or fully engaged partner for its successful completion (e.g. one can’t drive and finish on their own), both should have understood that they have equal say in when and how it should be run and the moment they are not in agreement is the moment the project should be paused;

3. if one partner who was initially cooperative no longer feels they can be, or that the project is worth their while, it doesn’t make them necessarily an unsupportive terrible person. Everyone has their limits;

4. due to 1. it may be extra difficult to know when to give in and know your own limits;

5. If you are going to leave anyone somewhere, make sure it’s not anywhere remote and unsafe, make sure someone else knows where they are (for both your sake) and is in full contact with them;

6. Everyone should always be somewhat responsible for their own basic safety - everyone carry your own phone if you’re going on a journey through wilderness (why’d he tell the cops he didn’t have one and didn’t want her taking off with the phone and keys so HE took them? What was SHE going to do if HE took them both?)

He must be SO SURE nothing can be found against him because the moment they find anything, his lack of cooperation is going to completely backfire on him. Makes him look guilty of the worst imaginable with no proof he cared about having basic human decency.
 
DV is not just physical. Red flags I noticed, based on the Power and Control Wheel developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, MN

Using coercion and threats
- threatening to leave (why, if they were both just going to take walks, as he claimed, did she have to force herself into the driver's side door and climb over him? he had locked her out; the implication that he was leaving was clear)
Using emotional abuse
- putting her down ("she's crazy")
- making her feel bad about herself (she blamed herself for being 'OCD'; he didn't think she could become an influencer)
- making her think she's crazy (If he said "she's crazy" so casually to the police, chances are he's said it directly to her before, too)
- making her feel guilty (her repeated "I'm sorry")
Using isolation
- controlling what she does... where she goes (he was the primary driver; he wanted to leave the public coffee shop, so they did; told her that she needed to take a walk to cool down)
Minimizing, denying, blaming
- making light of abuse (him joking with police about the whole situation)
- shifting responsibility for abusive behavior (he said he was grabbing her face because she was trying to get the keys - which are hers!)
- saying she caused it
Using male privilege
- acting like "master of the castle" (the fight was, according to him, because he kept tracking dirt into the van and moving her things around, which he just laughs off like she's being unreasonable to ask him to clean up after himself)



I cannot applaud this post enough
 
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